Factions, legal battles grip party strongholds, party upbeat over crises in Lagos, Rivers, Benue, Bayelsa, others
Despite holding power at the centre and across 23 states, the ruling All Progressives Congress is battling widening cracks within its ranks as bitter factional struggles, allegations of imposition, and unresolved leadership tussles threaten to undermine its cohesion ahead of the 2027 general elections.
From Lagos to Rivers, Delta to Bayelsa, Benue and Akwa Ibom, multiple state chapters of the APC are in turmoil forcing the party’s national leadership to step in amid fears that the internal wranglings could jeopardise its political dominance.
The APC has been grappling with internal divisions that threaten its stability ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This comes despite recent high-profile defections of influential opposition figures, including governors, into the ruling party’s fold.
Fresh concerns are emerging over the possible defection of long-time APC members, particularly loyalists from the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party and Congress for Progressive Change amid mounting power tussles in key states and pressure from a reenergised opposition coalition led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The recent resignation of Abdullahi Ganduje as national chairman has only compounded the party’s leadership crisis, especially in Kano, where political tensions continue to rise. Meanwhile, factional battles have crippled APC chapters in states like Benue, Rivers, and Lagos.
There is also increasing speculation about a brewing rift between President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, despite public attempts to present a united front, including the recent appointment of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda as the new APC national chairman.
But APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, stated that the ruling party was not experiencing crisis, adding that the situations in some states are normal and not beyond the party’s capacity to resolve through internal reconciliation.
Ibrahim added that the ruling party had strong machinery of party stalwarts that resolve internal party crisis.
Multiple sources told The PUNCH that influential members in the party have been reaching out to help resolve issues across the state chapters.
“We have members who have been talking to some of these factions, these are party bigwigs, call them kingmakers if you like, who are working to ensure that the party operates under a peaceful atmosphere ahead of 2027. They’ve been brokering peace across the party,” one of our sources said.
Amid the APC’s grip on Lagos State governance structures, the party is in a war with itself.
Earlier this year, the state House of Assembly, which has 39 APC members out of the 40-member legislative house, was embroiled in a deep leadership crisis, with some faction of lawmakers in the House removing the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, who was later returned to the seat following the intervention of the national leaders of the party, including President Bola Tinubu.
The crisis that rocked the assembly between January and March was believed to have a factional undertone as the party’s highest decision-making body, the Governance Advisory Council, could not resolve the crisis on its own.
In the Lagos APC, there are two camps, namely the Justice Forum and the Mandate.
Last week, some members of the APC in the state moved to sack the state party chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, over unresolved issues since the party’s primaries in May – the period leading to the July 12 local government elections.
The members took to the state House of Assembly last Monday to protest against Ojelabi over alleged imposition and bias, and attempt to filter them out from the local council administration slots.
However, the chairman described the aggrieved members’ allegations as baseless.
He told The PUNCH “I am not bothered” by the protest of the aggrieved members, whom he said had no grassroots relevance.
A member of Governor’s Advisory Council, the powerful political machinery created by Tinubu, Chief Muraina Taiwo, backed the call for the chairman’s sacking saying Ojelabi was only loyal to a faction of the party in the state – the Justice Forum – sidelining the Mandate group and other factions.
“What I know is that party stalwarts are not happy with the party chairman, most especially. The opinion is that they believe he is a Justice Forum member, and he is not trying to balance things. It is obvious in his dealings that he belongs to a faction,” Taiwo stated.
“Out of all the 57 local governments, check, the whole council, all Justice Forum’s members, through the state chairman’s directive, took all the slots for councillors. If they don’t change before the 2027 elections, things will be worse.
“He does not have experience. It was with a fight that we (the Mandate group) took 20 slots for the chairman from them. So, if they want us to win the 2027 elections, they should remove that chairman.”
After the party’s LG primary in May, there were protests in several councils by aggrieved APC members who alleged the imposition of candidates for the LG poll.
One of the protesting groups in Agege, believed to be another faction known as the Presidential Campaign Council, locked horns with Speaker Obasa and his group over the results of the party’s primaries.
The spokesperson for the PCC, Adetunji Akinyemi, flanked by the group’s chairman, Sabitu Kamorudeen, alleged that “The political climate in Agege and Orile-Agege is uniquely troubling. For over a decade, a carefully orchestrated structure dominated by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, has monopolised power.”
The crisis in the Lagos APC doesn’t seem to be ending soon, as the call for the sacking of the party’s chairman became loud just a day after local government chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors were sworn in by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the Lagos House in Ikeja.
Rivers crisis deepens
The primaries conducted by political parties to pick their candidates for the local government elections scheduled for August 30 by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission has deepened the crisis rocking the APC in the state.
The problems bedeviling the main opposition party in the state had yet to simmer down since the 2023 general elections, when former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, lost the party’s presidential ticket to incumbent President Tinubu, when the emergence of Chief Tony Okocha as the party chairman created two factions.
The other faction, loyal to Amaechi, is headed by Emeke Beke, who was the authentic chairman until the National Working Committee of the APC last year suspended the Beke-led state executive over alleged anti-party activities and consequently recognised Okocha as its state chairman.
But Beke challenged his suspension and was reinstated by the state High Court in a case presided over by Justice Sike Aprioku in 2024.
But despite the High Court ruling, the APC national executive has continued to recognise Okocha as the state chairman of the party, thus inviting him to its party activities and meetings.
Last week, Beke visited the new APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, in Abuja to inform him that Okocha still paraded himself as Rivers APC chairman despite the court ruling. Beke, during the visit, restated his loyalty to the party, saying he worked for the party and would remain in its fold.
But barely a week after Beke’s visit, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in a statement, said Okocha remained the Rivers APC chairman.
The statement, dated August 2, 2025 and titled ‘Tony Okocha is and remains the state chairman of Rivers APC’, read, “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to media reports of a claim by Mr Emeka Beke to the chairmanship of the Rivers State chapter of our party.
“We wish to clarify for the records that Chief Tony Okocha is, and remains, the Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of our party.
“We urge our teeming members in the state, and the general public, to disregard the said reports or reference to Mr Beke as state chairman of Rivers APC as false and misleading.”
Meanwhile, Beke flayed the action of its National Secretariat and accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for capitalising on his closeness to the President to weaken the party in the state.
Speaking with The PUNCH on Sunday through his Chief of Staff, Chizi Enyi, Beke alleged that during the primary election held on Saturday ahead of the August 30 local government elections, Wike once again used his influence to control both the APC and PDP in the state, ensuring the emergence of his loyalists as candidates.
He stated, “The much crisis we know of is the anti-party activities going on where the FCT minister, through the instrumentality of the Federal Government, uses the APC as his surrogate by bringing in both the APC and PDP to be together, to bring one candidate in almost all the primaries.
“Now, in several local governments, particularly in Ikwerre Local Government and some others, those who said they emerged as chairmanship candidates and councilors are all members of the PDP. Everybody knows in Ikwerre LGA that Charles Wobodo was chairman of the party in Ikwerre LGA and leader of his ward.
“Today he is the chairmanship candidate of the faction they said they are working with, the same thing in Khana, Gokana and several LGAs in the state. To be very precise, they are using the Renewed Hope Agenda and are no longer a political party.
“And the national secretariat always recognises Tony Okocha, sending him invitations and all that for party activities instead of Emeke Beke, who was duly elected. And when they attempted to remove him, the court voided it as decided by Justice Sike Aprioku.
“How can APC and PDP attend one primary to produce one candidate? And it has been done and it’s very unfortunate,” he lamented.
Asked if the Beke-led APC was considering dumping the party following its mistreatment by the national, he responded in the negative, at least for the moment.
“No, we are not leaving the party. As of now we have not made any decision to leave the party. But like the current local government election that they have just fixed for August 30, I’m in court against the State Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas. One other Non-Governmental Organization, Initiative for Transparent Strategy is also in Court against Ibas.”
No factions – Okocha
In a swift reaction, spokesman of the Okocha-led APC, Chibike Ikenga, said there was no faction in Rivers APC, insisting that Okocha remained the chairman of the party in the state.
Ikenga stated, “Firstly, there is nothing like Emeke Beke-led APC. There is no APC like that in Rivers State. Are you saying you have not seen the press release by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC as of yesterday (Saturday)?”
He went down memory lane on how the Abdullahi Ganduje-led APC National Secretariat suspended the Beke-led state executive and appointed a caretaker committee in the state led by Okocha, adding that a congress was subsequently conducted where Okocha was elected as substantive chairman of the state alongside other state executive members.
“The last time I checked, Emeke Beke does not lead any APC. His executive was validly dissolved based on anti-party activities against Bola Tinubu, then presidential candidate of the APC, in the build up to the 2023 general elections.
“And then a new congress was conducted where Chief Okocha and a few of us emerged as the substantive state executive committee of the party and State Working Committee accordingly, “ Ikenga explained.
On the allegations Saturday’s election primary was not free and fair, he dismissed the claim as untrue.
“The conduct of the primary in selecting councillors and chairmanship candidates for the APC in Rivers State took place yesterday (Saturday) successfully without rancour and the candidates have all emerged and are ready for campaigns now, which will culminate in the elections that will hold on August 30.
“No issues at all and as APC we are very happy about how the events went. Mind you, the State Executive Committee led by Chief Okocha and a few of us do not have powers to conduct congresses or primaries.
“It is the responsibility of the National Working Committee. And indeed the National Working Committee did conduct and then we were also there, we saw them. We gave them the support they required from the state here. That’s where we are.”
On claims of factions in the state APC, Ikenga said, “Not at all. We do not have any faction of APC in Rivers State. Chief Okocha is the validly elected chairman of the party in the state, which has a few of us as members of the state executive.”
Akume, Alia battle
in Benue, the future of the party hangs in the balance as there have been no moves by the factions to implement the reconciliation process proposed by President Bola Tinubu.
The ruling APC has been factionalised between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of The Federation, Senator George Akume.
The division in the party has thrown up two parallel leaderships: the Unity Caretaker Committee headed by Benjamin Omale and loyal to the state governor and the Austin Agada-led State Working Committee loyal to the SGF.
“No issues at all and as APC we are very happy about how the events went. Mind you, the State Executive Committee led by Chief Okocha and a few of us do not have powers to conduct congresses or primaries.
“It is the responsibility of the National Working Committee. And indeed the National Working Committee did conduct and then we were also there, we saw them. We gave them the support they required from the state here. That’s where we are.”
On claims of factions in the state APC, Ikenga said, “Not at all. We do not have any faction of APC in Rivers State. Chief Okocha is the validly elected chairman of the party in the state, which has a few of us as members of the state executive.”
Akume, Alia battle
in Benue, the future of the party hangs in the balance as there have been no moves by the factions to implement the reconciliation process proposed by President Bola Tinubu.
The ruling APC has been factionalised between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of The Federation, Senator George Akume.
The division in the party has thrown up two parallel leaderships: the Unity Caretaker Committee headed by Benjamin Omale and loyal to the state governor and the Austin Agada-led State Working Committee loyal to the SGF.
Several interventions had been made to unite the governor and his political godfather, Akume, but none has yielded results, including the recent idea of reconciliation President Tinubu sold to the governor.
Tinubu, during his condolence visit to the state following the massacre of about 200 people in Yelwata in June, lectured Governor Alia on party conflict resolution.
But close to six weeks after, nothing has been done, except the impromptu visit the governor paid Akume in his Abuja residence few days after the visit of the President.
The caretaker chairman of the party in the state, Benjamin Omale, described the governor’s visit to Akume as a good move towards the expected reconciliation, claiming that his committee was the recognised leadership in the state.
“We are getting united, stronger and very much on ground in the state,” he said. “You know that the governor, in his humility, paid a visit to the SGF recently and during the visit of the First Lady to the state last week, the wife of the SGF, Mrs Regina Akume, was at the Government House. This is a clear indication that the reconciliation is progressing.”
But the Publicity Secretary of Agada-led state working committee, Daniel Ihomun, said there was nothing on ground to suggest that the governor was committed to reconciliation.
Ihomun said the Agada-led State Working Committee held the key of the party in the state following the judgment of the state High Court, which nullified the caretaker committee.
He added, “There has been no judgment vacating the judgment of the state High Court that nullified the caretaker committee.
“The so-called visit of the governor (to Akume) was just a camouflage because since then, everything has remained as it is, no caucus or stakeholders meeting has been held.”
While debunking the insinuation that the visit of the wife of the SGF, Mrs Regina Akume, to Government House, during the visit of the First Lady last week was orchestrated by the state government, Ihomun said Mrs Akume was on the entourage of Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
